Knill excuse from Gulls boss Alan

8 September 2013

Torquay boss Alan Knill was left waiting for a fightback that never happened as his team went down 4-1 at Fleetwood.

A first-half brace from Antoni Sarcevic, his first league goals for the club, set Fleetwood on the road to victory with Jamille Matt and substitute Matty Blair adding to the home side's tally after the break.

Knill, who saw sub Elliot Benyon pull a goal back for the Gulls, admitted to coming up against superior opposition in Graham Alexander's men.

He said: "It feels rough when you go in 2-0 down at half time and the game is over.

"We thought maybe we could regroup at half time and get the first goal after the break but it just didn't happen.

"We hold our hands up, they were the better team."

Sarcevic scored Fleetwood's first with a near-post header after 10 minutes. He netted his second eight minutes before the break, finding the back of the net from 20 yards out following a delightful back-heeled lay-off from Jeff Hughes.

Matt, Hughes and Steven Schumacher all had good chances to put the home side further ahead but it was not until after the hour they extended their lead when confusion from a corner allowed Matt to shin the ball past goalkeeper Martin Rice.

Benyon got a late consolation for Torquay but Blair quickly restored the three-goal cushion and completed the scoring on a day Town boss Alexander refused to single out individual stars.

"You could go through the team and pick out individuals but I'm loath to do that because they are supported by the lads around them," said Alexander.

"There have been some great individual performances, but it's been a great performance all-round.

"We had it all over the pitch and deserved to take the points.

"There's no favourites here, there's no fringe players and everyone contributes over a season."